March 14, 1984
Education Week, Vol. 03, Issue 25
Education
Opinion
America Revised... Beyond Recognition
The following is an excerpt from a "history" of the United
State pieced together from several years of test papers, book
reviews, and research reports produced by the 8th-grade students
of a Pine Bluff, Ark. history teacher named Billy D.
Lawrence.
Education
E.D. Makes Grants To Help Develop Merit-Pay Plans
Reporting that 33 states and the District of Columbia have made "encouraging progress" in the implementation of master-teacher plans, Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell last week announced that the Education Department will award more than $1 million to 51 school districts, state education agencies, and other education institutions to help them develop and implement a variety of incentive-pay plans.
Education
Federal File
Education Department officials have approved a controversial plan to conduct full-scale security investigations of almost 20 percent of the employees in its office for civil rights, according to the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights.
The department's plan to reclassify lawyers and equal-opportunity specialists in ocr as "critical sensitive," thus subjecting them to extensive background checks of the type required by people handling national-security matters, first surfaced in late April of last year. (See Education Week, May 4, 1983.)
Education
Progress Slight on E.S.A.A. Funds
Proponents of a measure to resurrect a $100-million federal program to aid school districts undergoing desegregation held a "marginally" fruitful meeting with representatives of their chief foe in the Senate here last week.
Education
Academy Opposes Creationism
The National Academy of Sciences has produced a booklet arguing that creationism is not an appropriate subject for study in the science classroom.
Education
Models Column
"Hands-on learning" has taken on a new meaning in Minnesota, where students in kindergarten through 6th grade will learn about environmental education next fall through a new soil-conservation curriculum. Sponsored by the Governor's Council on Rural Development, the curriculum is the first of its kind in the United States for elementary-school children, according to John Miller, an environmental-education specialist with the Minnesota Department of Education.
Four hundred teachers throughout the state are participating in workshops to learn how to teach about soil erosion and protection. "Being an important agricultural state as we are, we feel it's something that's long overdue," Mr. Miller said.
Education
G.A.O. Questions Science-Teacher Plans
A new report from the General Accounting Office has found "no evidence" that federally sponsored programs to improve the knowledge of existing science and mathematics teachers will improve their effectiveness, as defined by students' achievement.
Education
Legislatures, State Boards Increase School Standards, Teacher Salaries
Education has been a preoccupation of state lawmakers during the current legislative season. Last December, Education Week published a 50-state survey summarizing the legislative actions related to school reform that state officials were then anticipating (see issue number 13, Dec. 7, 1983). The following reports update the survey for those states that have concluded their current legislative session.
Anne Bridgman, Sheppard Ranbom, and Susan Walton reported these accounts.
Education
Shift in Colorado's School-Aid Formula Weighed
Colorado legislators are considering several bills that would alter the way the state collects and distributes aid to public-school districts. But some observers believe any changes will be deferred so that a study group can be appointed to examine school finance in detail.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that the state's 1973 school-finance statute, while seriously flawed, does not violate the state constitution. (See Education Week, June 2, 1982.)
Education
Commission Studies Status, Problems of Hispanic Secondary Pupils
Concerned that various national studies on the state of American education have neglected the problems of Hispanic students, a newly formed commission plans to issue its own report, timed for maximum exposure during this election year.
Education
Illinois Governor Offers More Funds if Reform Pledged
Gov. James R. Thompson has proposed a $2.7-billion education budget for fiscal 1985--2.8 percent above this year's spending--with a promise of more to come in future years if educators can improve the quality of their product.
Ed-Tech Policy
Computer Network Will Link West Virginia Schools by 1986
Some 45 vocational-education schools in West Virginia have started a computer-education program that officials say will result within two years in the first statewide instructional network in the nation.
Education
Ky. Considers Plan To Take Over 'Academically Bankrupt' Systems
Kentucky lawmakers, turning to a form of power now used by states only when school districts get into deep financial trouble, are seeking the authority to take over districts deemed to be "academically bankrupt."
Education
Campaign Launched To Raise Literacy of Black Adults
Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell and his senior aides met last week with the representatives of national black organizations to discuss strategies for improving literacy among black adults.
Education
Imagination, Knowledge Distinguish Finalists of Science Talent Search
Douglas Galarus first read about the traveling salesman in a book entitled Problems Too Difficult for Computers.
Education
Recipients of E.D. Pay-Incentive Grants for Teachers
Following is a list of the 51 planning grants awarded by the U.S. Education Department to school districts, state education agencies, and other education institutions to help them develop incentive-pay structures. The grants were made under the Secretary of Education's discretionary fund. 
Education
House Approves Voc.-Ed. Bill
Members of the House of Representatives last week approved a bill that would reauthorize the federal vocational-education program for the next five years.
Education
E.D. Study Cites Positive Effects of Federal Programs
Contradicting President Reagan's contention that federal funds have hurt rather than helped America's schools, a study by the Education Department has concluded that federally supported programs have produced positive results without creating undue difficulties for state and local school authorities.
Education
Peer-Review Model for Managing Systems of Performance Pay
Following is Secretary Bell's model for managing career-ladder, master-teacher, and performance-pay systems in elementary and secondary schools.
Education
Arkansas Board Approves New Standards After Year-Long Effort
The Arkansas State Board of Education late last month unanimously approved new academic standards, culminating a year-long effort by Gov. Bill Clinton, the state's Educational Standards Committee, and the Arkansas legislature to formulate school reforms.
Education
Media Column
The Federal Communications Commission recently approved 82 licenses that the Public Broadcasting Service will use to set up a television network to transmit educational programming to and from local instructional television stations.
The pbs National Narrowcast Network will operate in the Instructional Television Fixed Service, a frequency band reserved by the fcc for educational purposes, and will link educational programming on itfs stations by satellite.
Education
Teaching About Values Called Key Part of Schooling
Schools that do not teach values and ethics are doing their students a disservice, several speakers told members of the National Association of Independent Schools at a conference here early this month.
Education
Bell Urges More Attention to Role of Home in Schools' Success
Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell told a group of 250 education leaders last Tuesday that the importance of the home environment in achieving educational excellence has been "virtually ignored" in most of the discussion and debate about student achievement during the last year.
Education
N.J. Advised To Strengthen Ties Between Teachers, Researchers
Trenton, N.J.--A panel of outside educational experts has told New Jersey officials that it is essential that stronger partnerships be formed between academicians and classroom teachers to help those starting out in the teaching profession.
Ed-Tech Policy
House Bill Seen as Hampering N.E.A. Computer Project
The House of Representatives last week passed an amendment that was created largely to hamper the National Education Association's new project in computer-software evaluation.
Education
Phila. Stakes Hopes On Voluntary Plan For Desegregation
Hundreds of minority parents have flocked to specially created community-outreach centers here in recent weeks seeking to have their children bused to predominantly white schools, as the Philadelphia School District began implementing its new voluntary-desegregation program.
Education
Supreme Court Upholds Ruling Preventing Tax Cut in St. Louis
The U.S. Supreme Court declined last week to block a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit requiring the city of St. Louis to defer a $5.7-million local property-tax rollback to help finance the metropolitan area's landmark school-desegregation plan.
Education
Opinion
Schooling All 4-Year-Olds: An Idea Full of Promise, Fraught With Pitfalls
Four-year-old Andy Sumner lives with his mother, a single parent, and his 7-year-old sister. He doesn't quite qualify for the Head Start program in his community, and his mother doesn't feel she can cover the tuition charged at a local nursery school.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Letters to the Editor
Monsignor George M. Rice Pastor-Emeritus Our Lady of Solitude Church Palm Springs, Calif.
Most of Edd Doerr's statements in his letter to the editor ("Constitutional Barriers to Tuition Tax Credits Cannot Be Wished Away," Education Week, Jan. 25, 1984) are concerned with the supposed consequences of tuition tax credits, not with basic rights; with examples in other countries; and with pinpointing the entire issue on its relationship to religious schools. To label tuition tax credits as "parochiaid" is misleading and pejorative. Many parents would not use such credits or grants as "parochiaid," but as independent-school aid, family aid, or public-school aid.